Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010, Vol. IV – Dead Weather, Foals, The Radio Dept., Beach Fossils, Weekend, The National

The Dead Weather's 'Sea Cowards,' was one of the best rocker albums of 2010

Enough with 2010 already? If that’s how you feel, then you probably don’t want to listen to 30-plus more of our favorite indie rock songs of 2010. By natural extension, many of the songs featured in this series are on many of our favorite albums for 2010. So, in place of the weekly S-25 Mix, we’ve put together this playlist of some of our favorite 2010 tracks to share with you instead.

It’s now mid-February, and there have been oodles of ace songs released so far, mainly via the Best New Releases weekly series, and the regular Fresh Tracks spotlight, including the latest and best music from bands like The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, Drive By Truckers, Smith Westerns, The Strokes, Radiohead, and many others. And so while we do our best to keep you updated on the latest most popular releases from indie bands and artists, we’re also continuing to share our favorite music of 2010, from albums and songs, to well-known artists and new bands.

In addition to creating various mixes featuring our favorite songs of 2010, work continues on putting together IRC’s Best Albums of 2010. So why the wait? Well, one reason is to make sure we have listened to as many indie albums from 2010 as possible, and with perspective. Another reason is so that we can measure your favorite albums based on what songs from this series are listened to, ‘hearted’ (on our Hype page), and downloaded the most.

With that in mind, you don’t want to miss the first three volumes of Best Indie Rock Songs of 2010because there are more than 100 killer tracks; so far, this series has been the most popular playlist series of 2011. Also, don’t miss the Top Ten Breakout Bands of 2010, plus 50 No. 1 Songs of 2010; and check out the first installment of 5 Bands to Watch in 2011. Let us know what you think of this best indie songs fourth playlist mix, Tweet it, share it on Facebook, Tumblr or Foursquare it. Enjoy.

MP3 Policy

All posted MP3s are for evaluation and sampling purposes made available to you by artists and labels. If there's a particular artist or band you really dig, show some love; buy a LP (vinyl is still the best), go to a show and spread the word.